tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post2390802427908239761..comments2024-02-24T00:37:43.087-05:00Comments on The Other McCain: Political moralism and the self-defeating impulse toward totalitarian 'purity'Robert Stacy McCainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084541621503669804noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-73636414659461695912009-12-31T13:04:03.860-05:002009-12-31T13:04:03.860-05:00Thank you for promoting my essay!
@Anonymous # 2:...Thank you for promoting my essay!<br /><br />@Anonymous # 2: Read the Liberty essay if you haven't already. The main point is the idea of moral consequentialism. Treat liberty, or non-initiation of force if you prefer, as a consequence of action and you get a bridge between the two schools.<br /><br />Taxation is theft, or at least a forced purchase, but if tax elimination leads to anarchy as usually experienced (chaos, civil war, conquest, etc.) then some taxation is justifiable on moral grounds: some taxation results in less aggression. If libertarian anarchy is as easy and as stable as some libertarians claim, then taxation is indeed unjustifiable theft. Pardon me for disbelieving this premise, however, until some modern evidence is provided.<br /><br />@Ronsonic: Based on my polling (see http://www.quiz2d.com/stats) legalizing prostitution is the most popular plank in the old LP Platform. It even comes out quite popular at gun shows -- where I first deployed the ancestor of this online quiz. Pot legalization is also quite popular by libertarian standards. Legalizing all drugs, however, is not.Carl Milstedhttp://www.holisticpolitics.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-45395269224504573112009-12-30T15:38:37.200-05:002009-12-30T15:38:37.200-05:00"If the LP ever decides to leave the Porn and..."If the LP ever decides to leave the Porn and Pot caucus behind and at least acknowledges that in foreign affairs the world will not allow us to just be a giant Switzerland they"<br /><br />... will cease to be part of the prospective solution and begin being part of the existing problem.Thomas L. Knapphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16271473384378782680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-57222620181977233602009-12-30T13:59:16.139-05:002009-12-30T13:59:16.139-05:00I was a regular reader of Liberty back in 2001.
U...I was a regular reader of Liberty back in 2001.<br /><br />Until 9/11, when Bradford wrote his pissy little essay complaining about how his favorite sitcoms were being pre-empted by all that annoying coverage of burning buildings. I assume that's online as well somewhere.<br /><br />I still glance at it in the bookstore sometimes though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-48180238825625799822009-12-30T12:28:36.208-05:002009-12-30T12:28:36.208-05:00Libertarian Party Purity has always been their sil...Libertarian Party Purity has always been their silliest and most damning feature. Years ago I was involved with the LP before discovering that they were more interested in a Jihadist approach of going down in flaming purity than in actually winning anyone over. <br /><br />I arranged for tables at gun shows that ended up being manned by people who thought a convincing argument went like "We stick up for pornography and drug use of course we're not going to compromise on gun rights." At least the gun show promoters refunded the fees when we got kicked out. <br /><br />If the LP ever decides to leave the Porn and Pot caucus behind and at least acknowledges that in foreign affairs the world will not allow us to just be a giant Switzerland they might get somewhere. Until then the libertarian caucus of the Republican Party remains the place to be.Ronsonichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03084095209525920755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-32934924590444107232009-12-30T12:08:04.733-05:002009-12-30T12:08:04.733-05:00That homecoming queen election was just the opposi...That homecoming queen election was just the opposite of last year's Presidential election. 2008 pitted two exceptional boobs against each other, but, in this case, the bigger boob won.<br /><br />Stacy, after you witness the Longhorns trounce the Crimson Tide in person, will the resultant decline in health force you to take a 'leave of absence' and leave Smitty as interim head blogger?Steve Burrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11532569085171327991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-2934453023592636722009-12-30T11:51:33.346-05:002009-12-30T11:51:33.346-05:00TrogloPundit said...
So did Sheila win?
Of course...<b>TrogloPundit said...</b><br /><i>So did Sheila win?</i><br /><br />Of course. She was a senior. Kim Cantrell was only a junior that year, although her prodigious D-cups carried her to the crown the next year.<br /><br />My fellow LSHS grads may want to check their yearbooks and correct my memory on the details here -- I was stoned pretty much constantly back in the day -- although both Sheila and Kim's racks remain permanently etched in my consciousness. Some memories are so profound that no amount of drug-induced brain damage can ever eradicate them.Robert Stacy McCainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03084541621503669804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-51575193058449645202009-12-30T11:38:47.863-05:002009-12-30T11:38:47.863-05:00So did Sheila win?So did Sheila win?TrogloPundithttp://troglopundit.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-68799026839368537092009-12-30T11:33:12.098-05:002009-12-30T11:33:12.098-05:00The problem with "consequential" liberta...The problem with "consequential" libertarians is that they have no love of liberty as a thing in itself. Typically they only love wealth. They'll eagerly support a tyranny if it can promose them wealth.<br /><br />If you read the libertarian mags you'll have seen the fawning praise they often heap on Abu Dhabi and Dubai. There is precious little freedom in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Lots of money though, at least for certain people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-87973756931786141372009-12-30T11:23:01.123-05:002009-12-30T11:23:01.123-05:00Splendid post, sir!Splendid post, sir!smitty1ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06559464300318848169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-54676560819954533502009-12-30T11:21:30.056-05:002009-12-30T11:21:30.056-05:00Sorry, but this essay is an ungainly mess. It squi...Sorry, but this essay is an ungainly mess. It squishes lots of different concepts together.<br /><br />Among other problems, you mix up politicans with voters. Voters are <i>supposed</i> to be True Believers in whatever they happen to believe. Politicians are supposed to represent those voters, which often means they must represent some combination of True Beliefs. <br /><br /><br /><i>There are many pro-lifers who make that issue a litmus test in such a way that it compels them to vote for bad politicians.</i> <br /> <br /><br /><br /><br />Bleh. As a general rule, pro-life politicans are good politicians on all sorts of other issues. When in doubt, vote for the most pro-life candidate possible and you won't go too far wrong.<br /><br /><br /><br />It's comical that anybody would suggest that what ails the GOP is excessive purity. What have you been smoking? The party has spent the last several years shafting every single interest group which supports it, with the notable exception of the Chamber of Commerce, which does <i>not</i> support it. A little purity for a change would do this sorry excuse for a party the world of good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-27651444871387608542009-12-30T11:19:06.014-05:002009-12-30T11:19:06.014-05:00Libertarians fighting always remind me of Trotsky ...Libertarians fighting always remind me of Trotsky vs. Lenin. As long as political purity is the litmus test, libertarians will never reach any of their lofty goals.<br /><br />Even worse than when the left C cup and the right C cup can't agree.Chuck Simminshttp://northshorejournal.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-32424231439950159142009-12-30T11:06:01.186-05:002009-12-30T11:06:01.186-05:00Reagan smoked tobacco? He must be evil...
only e...Reagan smoked <i>tobacco</i>? He must be evil...<br /><br />only <a href="http://cheapvolcanovaporizer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/obama-smoking-vaporizer.jpg" rel="nofollow">evil people smoke cigarretts</a>.Joenoreply@blogger.com